Shakespeare’s Best Bits

Caution – There are Snakes in the Botanical Gardens! A group of 6 Python creatures (of the Monty kind) are capable of injecting lethal laughter and if they don’t murder you with mirth there is even a giant Asp that will be let loose on you after it demolishes Cleopatra.

It’s Shakespeare in the Park time again, and if you have never attended this annual iconic event, and you’re not much of a Shakespeare fan, then this is the perfect production for you. Glenn Elston has created an extremely funny show which takes the premise that “The Mechanicals” – the players group of artisans from A Midsummer Night’s Dream are choosing the play they will perform, and consider some of Shakespeare’s better known plays to replace Peter Quince’s  dire “Pyramus and Thisbe”. So the stellar cast play the characters from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, who in turn play the characters from parodies of Shakespeare’s other plays.

This year the cast is, without exception, quite marvellous, highly experienced and with brilliant comic timing. Kevin Hopkins plays Peter Quince as writer/director, in the mode of every Community Theatre’s worst nightmare. He’s hilarious and also boasts a great pair of legs as he mimics some of the Bard’s greatest heroines. Hondo (Andrew Honromatidis) is Bottom. Hondo is a Music Theatre favourite who sings up a storm and has great command of the audience, as well as reducing the audience to tears of laughter. Mark Dickinson is one of my favourite Music Theatre performers no matter what he is doing. Suave, urbane and with one of the best voices in the business, he plays against type as the clumsy and self-effacing Snug and totally nails every moment with endearing and disarming aplomb. To see him line dancing in the wrong direction in black and white cow print pants (don’t ask) is one of my fondest memories this summer so far. The downside is that the man with the best voice in the cast doesn’t get to sing a proper solo number. A big reflective ballad would have been a welcome pause in the laughter. Scott Jackson is a wow as Tom Snout, Hugh Sexton brings all his experience to Robin Starveling; and the fabulously funny Anthony Rive – who is marvellous whether performing, writing, or directing – makes Francis Flute the one tradesman you’d hire just for his company.

Whilst the first half works a treat throughout - Macbeth will have you on the floor with laughter….especially when the three witches appear; and Hamlet – performed in a kitchen where the Swedish Chef inexplicably is Danish -  is side-splitting -  the second half is more hit and miss. The ballet of Romeo and Juliet is funny but perhaps needs a trim and the opera doesn’t work at the same level as the rest of the show. However, when we reach the stand out Musical Theatre production of Antony and Cleopatra at Caesar’s Palace, I defy you not to end up feeling seriously sick from laughing. It’s a stroke of genius and should make a reappearance at the MICF….I will long remember the Vegas version of “Midnight At The Oasis”…with the ever increasing disco ball – and make sure you stay to see Cleo clasp her Asp in her grasp and gasp her last. Pack a picnic, take a rug, or buy nibbles and wine there….but don’t miss this marvellous summer attraction.

Coral Drouyn

Photographer: Ben Fon.